The Sunken Cathedral
by yugiohmaniac
Summary: A break from the toil of the journey leads one member of the party to discover a tragic truth, one that pushes Aeris closer to her dreams...


~One-shot, semi-canon? Ignoring the plotline's chronology, this story focuses on the group's discovery of Lucrecia's cave and Aeris' reaction to it in particular… DISCLAIMER: I own none of the characters, concepts etc. as these belong to Square/Enix and this story is solely for entertainment purposes.~

The Sunken Cathedral

Cloud glanced across the faces of his compatriots. He could see tired lines forming under their eyes and their footsteps were heavy. Even Yuffie seemed to be dragging her feet.

'Hey, everyone.' They all stopped and looked at Cloud. He pointed to a hill overlooking Nibelheim. 'Why don't we stop there and get something to eat?'

'Up _there?' _Yuffie bounced backward on her heels in the opposite direction. 'You'd make me climb another hill? No way! My feet are killing me!' Cloud glanced around the others. Tifa's eyes were fixed on her shoes and Cloud could tell she was still thinking about all the things she had seen back in their mysteriously restored hometown.

'It'll be scenic,' Aeris said softly. 'I think we should.' Aeris' approval seemed to pacify Yuffie, although a scowl was still plastered to her face.

'Let's not stand on ceremony.' Barrett barged past them all and started scaling the steep incline. 'I'm too hungry to wait!' Red XIII bounded up lithely, followed by their newest member, Vincent.

Tifa wasn't looking when Cloud went to say something to her, but Aeris was watching him. She extended her hand mischievously and raised her dress (not as high as Cloud would have liked) out of the way of the grass.

'Help me up the hill?'

Cloud grinned and took her thin hand in his, pulling her light frame up with him. Even with all their exertion over the past few days, they were all winded by the time they'd reached the top.

But that was secondary to the sight laid out before them.

The hill levelled out and then dipped into what appeared to be the remains of a building. Water lapped over the ruins of stone and pillars rose, half decimated, towards the sky.

Cloud looked at Aeris. Her mouth moved in wordless wonder, one hand pressed to her lips. For some reason, the place filled him with energy. He wanted to lift her up and spin her around, just like in the movies, and watch her innocent smile dissolve into giggles. Instead, he just gave her hand a squeeze before letting go.

'It's like a cathedral…' She stepped to the edge of the stone steps that descended into pale water. 'There's something sacred about this place. Look how clean the water is!'

Tifa folded her arms, paced tentatively forward. 'Did the Ancients build this?' Aeris shook her head, kneeling by the edge to scoop up some of the water and splash herself with it. The cathedral, as Aeris put it, seemed to extend back a long way, into other structures that looked like they had been courtyards and rooms. Aeris dashed from place to place, watering some of the plants that appeared to have long since dried out.

Cloud hadn't noticed Vincent stepping forward slowly until Tifa looked up for the first time and watched him.

'Vincent?' she said. He didn't respond. 'Are you all right?' They all turned and Barrett scrutinised the former Turk with a look of suspicion.

The man took a step forward, glancing slowly around as if hypnotised. 'This place…' His deep voice sounded breathless. Tifa inched back as he looked in her direction, but it was as though he was looking past her.

'What is it?' Aeris said.

'It's like it's calling…' His blood red eyes widened suddenly and he span around, marching through the columns away from them. Cloud scrambled after him, closely followed by Barrett and Aeris. The others were a little further back, as they remembered Vincent's demonic fighting style in battle only too well.

He had stopped in front of what appeared to be a natural waterfall. Several inches underneath the water was what appeared to be a natural cave, lined with beautiful crystals. Vincent was about to go towards it when Barrett seized his arm and swung him around.

'Hold it,' he growled. The man regarded him with that same distant look and just waited for Barrett to release him. Barrett glanced over at Cloud.

'You're not going alone. First, it could be dangerous. And second…what do you mean?'

'Something's waiting for me…' He twisted in Barrett's grip, his eyes fixed to the water. He tensed suddenly. 'Let go. This doesn't concern you.' He shook Barrett off and headed behind the sheet of water.

Needless to say, the others weren't far behind.

They had lunch later that day as they waited for Vincent to exit the cave. After finally hearing the truth from the rattled Turk and the eerily disembodied voice of the crystallised Lucrecia, he felt it was only fair to give their compatriot some time alone to get his head around it.

'Maybe he won't go with us after this,' Yuffie piped up, finishing her lump of bread in one gulp. 'Then we won't have to worry about him accidentally disembowelling one of us.' The others shot her a look. 'I'm just _saying, _is all.'

'No. He'll go on,' Cloud said and he could see Barrett understood what he meant. How could he not want to kill Hojo? How could he not hate him, when he had suffered just as Aeris and Red XIII had suffered because of him?

Aeris was quiet. She took sips from the water more liberally than the others, her instincts telling her that it was pure. But her mind wandered back to the woman they had seen encased in crystal. She thought of how Vincent had pressed against the precious gems to reach her, how he had hidden his golden gauntlet from her sight and how he had looked on her with more desperation and adoration than Aeris had ever seen in his eyes, in anyone's eyes before.

She stood and slipped away from the group, her dress swaying around her with every tight step she took. She only stopped once she was hidden from their view by broken pillars.

Would Cloud ever look at her that way? She tried to imagine the tone with which Vincent had whispered to Lucrecia being adopted by Cloud for her and no-one else. But the illusion was flimsy and hard to maintain when she felt- no, knew- that if she was to disappear, he could turn his attentions to Tifa, with all her strength and insecurities.

'So, now what?' she asked herself.

'Aeris?' Cloud was calling from somewhere close. 'Aeris? Oh, Aeris, there you are. It looks like…'

Aeris turned suddenly, a mischievous, secretive smile playing on her face. Cloud stammered for a few moments, blushing and rubbing the back of his neck. 'Um…it looks like we'd better stay the night here. There won't be anywhere good to camp on Mt. Nibel…so Barrett thinks we ought to clear it in one day. And I think that, too. So, we're sticking it out here, if…if that's okay with you.'

'Cloud,' she said. 'Of course it's okay with me.' She bounded up onto a stone ledge that looked over onto the waterfall. 'Keep me company?' She felt as though they were back in the playground together in Sector Six, but this time Cloud didn't hesitate to spring up beside her.

'Are you all right?' he said. 'I mean, you left really suddenly before.'

'I was just thinking about Vincent and Lucrecia,' she said, kicking her legs out before her.

'Yeah?'

'Everyone was surprised that he loved her so much, weren't they?'

'I think they were surprised that he feels love at all,' Cloud said, grimly. Aeris shook her head, kicked her legs out.

'That's just it.' She swallowed, flashed Cloud a smile again. 'It's like the Planet. Not everyone can hear its voices, but to those who can, it goes on in a never ending shout. How can something so still make so much noise? The Ancients have more than one poem about that.'

'Just like people,' Cloud said. She rested her hand on his arm, turned her liquid green eyes on him. 'There's so much going on beneath the surface…' His gaze shifted from her and back towards the others. Aeris watched him, waiting. Then he looked back, smiling to banish his misgivings as she had done. 'And you knew that about Vincent…about all of us… all along, didn't you?'

She smiled again, not trusting herself to say anything. Cloud couldn't seem to take his eyes from her.

'The way you see the world, Aeris, it's…' He wasn't flushed anymore; his eyes were wide as if he was surprised by his own feelings. '…it's beautiful.'

'CLOUD!'

They flinched apart as Yuffie marched up to them, her hands fastened to her hips. 'Cloud, we're gonna go catch some meat for dinner! You'd better come along since Vinnie's still mooking in the cave!'

Aeris laughed and got to her feet. 'Does he know you're calling him Vinnie?'

Yuffie seemed to think about this, but then she shrugged. 'He'll get used to it.' Aeris and Cloud exchanged a glance silently. Cloud hopped down from the stone and followed Yuffie.

'Do you need my help?' Aeris called.

'We've got it covered!' Yuffie replied. 'Be ready with materia, though, 'cause Barrett always manages to hurt himself!' Cloud glanced back, waving at Aeris, a shy smile on his face.

Aeris stood alone and sighed softly to herself. The Planet was quiet except for the sound of rushing water. She stood there for some time, staring after Cloud and Yuffie, before rejoining the others.

Vincent had reappeared by the time they sat together to eat that night, but he had little appetite and allowed Red XIII to have most of his meal. Aeris also spotted him turning a small chunk of crystal from the cave in his fingers. Aeris had the urge to cross the circle and hug him, but she checked it and remained thankful that Yuffie was buoyant enough to drag them all up with her.

She glanced at Cloud, who was sat trying to engage Tifa in conversation. Tifa responded more than she had earlier, and Aeris told herself that she was glad Cloud was looking after her. After all, no-one else had lived through the wrecking of Nibelheim. No-one else could understand.

But the truth was that when Tifa was involved, the world Aeris saw wasn't beautiful at all.

It was filled with the silence and large, empty spaces that came to an Ancient, or to any girl who loved someone who didn't fully love her back.

~Been a long time since my last outing, so I hope my style has improved. If not, all constructive criticism is welcome. Recently trying to experiment with third person omniscient and objective views. Maybe not entirely successful…~


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